Cup Final Prediction

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I expect many members will be watching the cup final this afternoon. It promises to be the most exciting contest for many years. I thought it might be a bit of fun to make some predictions about the outcome.

Man United’s attempts at intimidating Arsenal will end in failure. Wayne Rooney will be sent off near the end of the game after receiving two yellow cards.

I say this as a West Ham supporter with no particular feeling for Arsenal. In fact, I think Wenger has done a lot of harm by his decision not to develop young English players at Arsenal. (Mark Noble, a seventeen year old Arsenal reject, has been West Ham’s best player this year).

By the way, for anyone who is interested, West Ham will beat Preston 3-0 in the play-off final in Cardiff.

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I expect many members will be watching the cup final this afternoon. It promises to be the most exciting contest for many years. I thought it might be a bit of fun to make some predictions about the outcome.

Man United’s attempts at intimidating Arsenal will end in failure. Wayne Rooney will be sent off near the end of the game after receiving two yellow cards.

I say this as a West Ham supporter with no particular feeling for Arsenal. In fact, I think Wenger has done a lot of harm by his decision not to develop young English players at Arsenal. (Mark Noble, a seventeen year old Arsenal reject, has been West Ham’s best player this year).

By the way, for anyone who is interested, West Ham will beat Preston 3-0 in the play-off final in Cardiff.

I am far more interested in who will win the Champions League on Wednesday than in these trivial domestic issues

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I am far more interested in who will win the Champions League on Wednesday than in these trivial domestic issues

I predict a Liverpool 2-1 victory

I am sure you are. However, my crystal ball tells me that Liverpool will lose 2-0. You will pleased to know that you will finish the game with 11 men, although one man will be leaving the club soon afterwards.

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I am far more interested in who will win the Champions League on Wednesday than in these trivial domestic issues

I predict a Liverpool 2-1 victory

I am sure you are. However, my crystal ball tells me that Liverpool will lose 2-0. You will pleased to know that you will finish the game with 11 men, although one man will be leaving the club soon afterwards.

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I am sure you are. However, my crystal ball tells me that Liverpool will lose 2-0. You will pleased to know that you will finish the game with 11 men, although one man will be leaving the club soon afterwards.

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After 40 minutes I thought I had underestimated Liverpool's defeat. My calculation had been based on Dietmar Hamann playing from the beginning.

Liverpool are clearly not the best club in Europe this year. The record shows they were only the fifth best club in England. However, no one can deny their brave second-half performance. It was not only a victory for Liverpool. It was an illustration of the standard of the premiership. It was also an indication of why every great team needs several players who are aware of the traditions of British football. Would Chelsea have been so good without London boys John Terry, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole? Would Liverpool have won last night without local lads, Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard?

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After 40 minutes I thought I had underestimated Liverpool's defeat. My calculation had been based on Dietmar Hamann playing from the beginning.

Liverpool are clearly not the best club in Europe this year. The record shows they were only the fifth best club in England. However, no one can deny their brave second-half performance. It was not only a victory for Liverpool. It was an illustration of the standard of the premiership. It was also an indication of why every great team needs several players who are aware of the traditions of British football. Would Chelsea have been so good without London boys John Terry, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole? Would Liverpool have won last night without local lads, Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard?

I guess that is about as near as we will get to an admission that you underestimated the spirit and ability of a rather fine Liverpool team.

Liverpool quite obviously are the best team in Europe - and they have the trophy to prove it

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Andy congrats to Liverpool who remain something of a family run club,unlike my

once beloved Manchester United. BUT FOOTBALL WILL EAT ITSELF..

Thankyou

I also agree that it is a shame what has happened to Manchester United and to Chelski. It is not necessarily the way all top clubs will go however.

I am also hopeful that John's beloved West Ham might drag themselves up to the Premier League in the near future. If such a fantastic and form book upsetting event were ever to happen I would relish the opportunity to escort said Simkin and his crystal ball to Anfield for a football education

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Interests:I began my career as a teacher of German and French in secondary education in 1965, moving into higher education in 1971, where I taught German (and also English as a Foreign Language to students training to become professional translators) until 1993. I have been involved in Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) since 1976. In 1982 I wrote one of the first introductory books on computers in language learning and teaching, which was followed by numerous other printed and software publications. In 1989 I was conferred with the title of Professor of CALL by the Academic Board of Ealing College of Higher Education (later integrated into Thames Valley University). I retired from full-time teaching in 1993 but I continued to work as a Visiting Professor for Thames Valley University until 2001. I was the Founder President of EUROCALL, holding the post from 1993 to 2000. I am a partner in Camsoft, a CALL software development and consultancy business, which was founded in 1982. I have lectured and run ICT training courses for language teachers in 22 different countries and I sit on a number of national and international advisory boards and committees. I have been actively involved in WorldCALL since 1998 and I currently head a working party that is in the process of setting up WorldCALL as an official organisation that aims to assist countries that are currently underserved in the area of ICT and the teaching and learning of modern foreign languages. I am fluent in German, I speak tolerable French, and I can survive in Italian, Russian and Hungarian. I enjoy golf, skiing, walking my dog (a retired racing greyhound) and travelling. I used to scuba-dive regularly - my last dive was on the Great Barrier Reef in 1998 - but now I just swim at my local fitness centre.

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Liverpool quite obviously are the best team in Europe - and they have the trophy to prove it

I find this claim difficult to accept. After all, Liverpool finished 37 points behind Chelsea in the league. Surely that is the real test of a great team. As Liverpool showed, you can win cup competitions with a great deal of luck. League are won by teams that perform to high standards over a long period of time. Liverpool was fifth best in England. League tables do not lie.